Martin's odyssey to become not as weak.

[martin_mathers]

Light ATG Squats
up to
275x5x3
Doing full ROM doesn't hurt my quad. But if i put in the effort and stop at below parallel, it puts a lot of stress on my knees and for some reason that hurts my quad. So for now i'll have to go IPF deep lol.

Bench
up to
290x3x4
275x5
Pecs and shoulders were very fatigued so i didn't do my usual sets of 5. The cool kids call it auto regulation nowadays. I call it being a pussy. I'll do better on Monday.

Rows
4x15

Ab wheel
4x12

Bad day on the bench but glad i was able to squat.

[martin_mathers]

Light Squat Practice
up to
315x5x1
Squatted again today. Felt great and pain free. Trying to get my new form down.

OHP
145x5x5
155x5

Light Close grip bench
185x10
205x10
225x2x10

Facepulls
4x20

Curls
4x12

[izzygrant]

yay you can join the CPU

[martin_mathers]

yay you can join the CPU

I've honestly thought about doing a CPU meet many times before but i don't wanna pay the membership fee + meet fee lol. Broke student is broke. Hell i can't even afford to compete at a CPF meet right now.

[izzygrant]

I've honestly thought about doing a CPU meet many times before but i don't wanna pay the membership fee + meet fee lol. Broke student is broke. Hell i can't even afford to compete at a CPF meet right now.

fair enough. their meets are more expensive than they should be, at least in BC. the nice thing with the BCPA is that they give you half price for your first year of membership, and junior fees are less as well.

[martin_mathers]

fair enough. their meets are more expensive than they should be, at least in BC. the nice thing with the BCPA is that they give you half price for your first year of membership, and junior fees are less as well.

One meet fee is usually between $75-100 here so basically one week's worth of food for me lol. Everything is more expensive in BC with all the rich retired old people.

[izzygrant]

One meet fee is usually between $75-100 here so basically one week's worth of food for me lol. Everything is more expensive in BC with all the rich retired old people.

it's not the old people who are rich it's the people who move from Ontario cuz BC is nicer. our meet fees are about the same but how the hell do you feed yourself on $100 a week?

[martin_mathers]

it's not the old people who are rich it's the people who move from Ontario cuz BC is nicer. our meet fees are about the same but how the hell do you feed yourself on $100 a week?

Its usually around $75-90 actually. I don't really eat out that often and i buy everything from Walmart lol. This is how my grocery list looks like every week:

2lbs ground beef
2lbs ground chicken
2lbs ground turkey
3lbs turkey patties
3 frozen large pizzas
Juice
Soymilk (lactose intolerant)
Eggs
Bread
Sandwich meat
2kg of frozen veggies that last about 3 weeks
Rice that lasts about a month

all that usually comes to around $90. when shiits on sale its about $75.


Light Squat Practice
up to
315x5x2
I was able to find a more comfortable high bar position but i felt like i couldn't get my upper back tight at all compared to low bar. But for the next 6 weeks or so I'll be squatting light so I can play around with my stance, bar position and depth more.

Bench
up to
290x2x5
290x3x4
The fatigue from 5 weeks of heavy volume benching is setting in. Totally out of gas after 2 sets of 5. Next week will be a deload for me then I'm moving into sets of 4.

Pullups
4x10

[HoneyBadger300]

Oh nice, playing with stance. In to see how it goes and what works best for you.

[martin_mathers]

Oh nice, playing with stance. In to see how it goes and what works best for you.

More like what hurts less lol. Right now high bar oly squats feel the best to me so I'm gonna train that primarily. Cutting depth seems to aggravate my injuries.


Deadlift no belt
up to
495x1
Shut it down there. Was supposed to do 525x5x1 beltless today but i was feeling really shiitty. Plus I had my last final exam today so my mind just wasn't there.

Light Squat practice
up to
275x3x3
worked on getting the bar position higher. Felt pretty good but i need to keep my chest up more and stop squatting like I'm still doing low bar.

Light Bench
up to
275x3x3
Again, decided not to do my work sets today and went light.

No assistance work.

The old me would've pushed through it today and probably missed my working sets. Or I would've hit them and felt beat up as fuuck for the following few days. I guess now I'm just not scared to take a step back and shut it down early when I'm not feeling well. I'm gonna try to hit what i didn't do today on Friday. I would take the rest of the week light but I'm already taking next week off. Hopefully i feel better on Friday.

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift no belt
Up to
495x1
525x1 PR
525x1
Very happy with this. Lower back and glutes were sore going into this workout but i managed to pull a PR pretty easily. Looking forward to my week off coming up.

Paused bench
Up to 310x9x2
Fatigue is building up fast so i did doubles instead of triples. I guess im doing high volume training right since im getting weaker during the training cycle. I encountered the same thing when i was doing sheiko.

Rows
4x10

GHR against green band
3x10

[martin_mathers]

Squat
up to 335x1
didn't feel too painful today. Going back to squatting 1x a week. Right now my right leg is very weak for some reason. Gonna slowly building back strength in my leg.

Bench
up to
295x5x3

Pullups
4x10

GHR
4x10

Side Raises
4x12

Leg Press
4x20
i might start using this more often to build strength and muscle mass in my legs again. Taking rest of the week off.

[martin_mathers]

Back from vacation!



Saturday:

OHP
5x3
Right shoulder was hurting for some reason.

Close grip bench
up to
225x4x10
275x3

Rows
4x10

Leg Press
4x15

Ab pulldown
2x20

Squats and bench tonight.

[martin_mathers]

Squat
up to
275x2x2
315x1
335x1
345x1
Squats felt really fast but glute was bothering me so i had to slow down at the top. Haven't had this pain in my glute in a while hope it goes away next week.

Bench
up to
295x5x4
Felt okay.

Pullups
3x12

Leg Press
3x15

I don't even like my squat days anymore. Only look forward to deadlift and bench days now lol.

[NorthStrong]

"dont even like my squat days anymore"

unsubbed.

[HoneyBadger300]

"dont even like my squat days anymore"

unsubbed.

+1

Pretty strong work for just coming off vacation. Your squat will come back.

[martin_mathers]

"dont even like my squat days anymore"

unsubbed.

lol its depressing to see people who used to squat way less than me and they're now squatting more than me. brb training for battle of champions.

+1

Pretty strong work for just coming off vacation. Your squat will come back.

thanks man. words like those keep me going when i don't feel like it <3

[martin_mathers]

Bench
up to
315x1 supposed to do 6 doubles at 315 but right shoulder came out and felt a bit of pain on my 2nd rep. So i took some weight off.
295x2
305x6x2 these were easy. not sure what happened with 315. gonna hit it next week.

Facepulls
4x15

Curls
4x20

Bad day. Lots of things i could blame but i guess i was just weak today. i have 2 more weeks of heavy volume then I'm deloading and maxing. Not sure what i'll hit cause it hasn't been the best cycle. But i'd be happy with 365.

[HoneyBadger300]

Bad day. Lots of things i could blame but i guess i was just weak today. i have 2 more weeks of heavy volume then I'm deloading and maxing. Not sure what i'll hit cause it hasn't been the best cycle. But i'd be happy with 365.

They won't always be the best, especially when you're getting that high. PR's are PR's bro, squeeze what you can out of these last 2 heavy weeks and enjoy that deload before PR'ing.

[martin_mathers]

They won't always be the best, especially when you're getting that high. PR's are PR's bro, squeeze what you can out of these last 2 heavy weeks and enjoy that deload before PR'ing.

Yea man just gotta tighten that form up on the bench.


Deadlift No Belt
up to
500x1
545x1 20lb PR. i was supposed to work up to 535 today but my warmups felt really good so i went for 545. got way out of position at the bottom so my lockout became harder than its supposed to be. still got it though.

Deficit deads
225x2x5
315x2x3
365x2x3
Hamstrings were fried.

Bench
up to
295x5x4
way better than monday and wednesday. Tried really hard to focus on my technique and it definitely paid off.

Pullups
4x12

GHR
4x10

Great day of training. I originally planned to go 565 beltless in two weeks. I know i can hit it but i don't really see a point in doing it. It'd probably have not much training effect other than burning myself out. I'm going light next week and i'll start a new deadlift cycle and i'll start pulling with a belt again.
And hopefully i'll have a better week of benching next week.

[martin_mathers]

Moved in to a new apartment and havent had internet for the past week.

Monday:

Squat
up to
315x1
335x1
355x1
355x1
Everything felt nice and easy. Still keeping the volume and intensity very low to maximize recovery.

Bench
up to
295x4
300x4x4
supposed to do 295x5x4 but the 1st set felt so easy i added 5lbs.

Rows
4x12

Leg press
4x15

Ab pulldown
3x20


Wednesday:

Bench
up to
295x2
305x2
315x6x2
Easy. speed work.

Side raises
4x12

Facepulls
4x15

Curls
3x12

[HoneyBadger300]

Awesome deadlift PR! 545 with no belt, dang! Awesome that bench was feeling better. What are your plans for your deadlift cycle?

[martin_mathers]

Awesome deadlift PR! 545 with no belt, dang! Awesome that bench was feeling better. What are your plans for your deadlift cycle?

thanks mang! For deads im gonna start with 485 for doubles then add 20lbs each week until i hit 545 or 565 for doubles. then i'll deload and go for 585+. It will be a short peaking cycle.

[HoneyBadger300]

thanks mang! For deads im gonna start with 485 for doubles then add 20lbs each week until i hit 545 or 565 for doubles. then i'll deload and go for 585+. It will be a short peaking cycle.

Sounds pretty fun. That'll be a big PR

[martin_mathers]

Deadlift
up to
455x2x1
Light day. Glute was feeling funky, which made sense cause i hit a deadlift PR last week and squatted monday. Also used a belt today after staying beltless for like 2-3 months. Felt extremely awkward. I think i need to tighten it a little.

Bench
up to
300x5x4
easy. Felt awesome.

Pullups
3x12

GHR
3x10

Ab pulldowns
3x20

I'm re-thinking if i should do doubles for my deadlift cycle or not. I don't know if my glute is ready for that yet. Warming up today on deads i was doing doubles and triples and that made my glute feel a bit funky. I might just peak up using heavy singles every other week. Basically one week heavy one week light. I've done that many many times before and its worked pretty well.

[HoneyBadger300]

Sick benching. Why don't you go with what you know works? Doubles could help and would be pretty cool, or doubling your load could wear you out and make you miss.

[martin_mathers]

Sick benching. Why don't you go with what you know works? Doubles could help and would be pretty cool, or doubling your load could wear you out and make you miss.

well cause i just did a whole cycle with singles and i thought i'd just change it up a little. But yea i think i'll just stick with heavy singles every other week.

[martin_mathers]

Close grip bench
up to
235x3x8

Facepulls
4x20

Pullups
3x10

[martin_mathers]

Squat
up to
315x1
345x1
365x1
meh. glute was hurting during warmups.

Bench
up to
295x2
305x5x4 volume PR, easy stuff too.

got in late last night so im doing my assistance stuff today after work. very tempted to do high bar squats to see if it hurts my glute but i shall stick to leg presses.

[HoneyBadger300]

Wow awesome bench PR. What's up with the glute?